IBM Set To Roll Out SystemSeller Program

Frank Vitagliano, vice president of worldwide global distribution channels at IBM, formally announced the SystemSeller initiative at Ingram Micro's VentureTech conference in Atlanta. "We are going to have very, very aggressive pricing," he said. "We are going to be right on the competition with these models."

IBM, Armonk, N.Y., had previewed the SystemSeller program at its PartnerWorld conference in February.

The preconfigured SystemSeller SKUs aim to provide 10 points of margin up front, with a 2 percent back-end rebate on any of the SystemSeller products sold by partners, Vitagliano said. It remains to be seen how much of the10-point margin would be passed on to customers as solution providers compete for business with one another and with Dell and HP.

The preconfigured eServer and TotalStorage offerings are expected to cover 20 to 30 models, including IBM xSeries servers and BladeCenters, IBM OpenPower Linux systems and IBM TotalStorage disk and tape products.

Vitagliano said IBM plans to aggressively market SystemSeller to solution providers and end users. The initiative also is designed shrink the number of special-bid pricing scenarios that often slow VARs when they attempt to close deals quickly in a frantic, competitive environment, he noted.

In addition, Vitagliano announced free technical training for 100 VentureTech members--50 on IBM servers and 50 on technology from Lenovo, which is acquiring IBM's PC and notebook business. IBM also said 120 VentureTech customers will get free briefings on IBM server strategy and the Lenovo strategy at Big Blue's Raleigh, N.C., briefing center.